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Result of the Sunday September 30th, 2007 CSL game between Canadian Lions and Windsor Border Stars played at Birchmount Stadium in Scarborough at 6:00pm.
Canadian Lions (white socks and shirts, navy shorts and numbers)
...........................1 Matthew Willis (cpt)
12 Aram Doski...5 Sasha Kosanovic...16 Marc Jankovic...15 Beleshi Misiari
4 Ryan Reese...7 Joe Rini...18 Caswain Mason...6 Milos Vlicinic
.....................19 Craig Patton...14 Darryl Gomez
Subs:...3 Lovemore Ncube (mid)...8 Nordo Gooden (fwd)...11 Lexton Hurlock (fwd)...17 Nemalija Krmeta (fwd)...20 Kevin Ricketts (def)...21 Jelani Smith (fwd)
team officials:...unlisted
Windsor Border Stars (all black, white numbers)
.....................00 Anthony Santilli
8 Ilir Koliqi...28 Milan Marsic...31 Peter Santilli...24 Haveer Mann
21 Isaac Idisho...14 JJ Dowlan...11 Ante Ivcec...17 Velid Hodzic
...................22 Matt Levidini...10 Marko Juricic
Subs:...listed but not here:...5 Scott Patriquin (def)...9 Filip Rocca (def)
team officials:...head coach JJ Dowlan
Game officials:...referee Justin Tasev...referee's assistants Benoni Savulesci and Afshin Korkarian...fourth official Hassane Rifai...(red shirts, black shorts and socks)
1st Half:...game starts 6:32pm on delayed start on this warm evening...as the scoreboard doesn't work so all times are converted from my wristwatch.
1 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from right is headed away by defender.
2 min...Lions Reese pushes ball forward and centered to Lions Patton who has ball poked away from 12 yards.
4 min...Lions Reese can't turn ball on WBS right end line.
4 min...Lions Vlicinic blasts dropped ball from left and shot is deflected wide.
5 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from right is over players in box.
7 min...WBS goalie wins battle outside box to beat Lions Patton to clear ball.
8 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from left is high and drifts behind net.
9 min...WBS Hodzic 25 yard shot through crowd of players bounces to goalie.
10 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from right has goalie catch in crowd of players.
13 min...WBS Levidini 15 yard shot from extreme right is behind net.
15 min...Lions Reese cross from right sideline at 10 yards lands on top of net.
19 min...Lions Misiari long run on left and cross is over players in box.
20 min...Lions Vlicinic pops up header on cross from left from 15 yards and goalie catches ball just under bar.
24 min...Lions Vlicinic dekes defender but cross from left end line is deflected out for cornerkick.
24 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from left is cleared by nearest defender.
26 min...Lions Misiari pushes pass from 15 yards on left over end line.
26 min...Lions Mason pushes pass forward from 25 yards that Lions player misses and over end line on left.
29 min...WBS Idesho pokes ball away from charging Lions Misiari who's injured on left end line.
31 min...Lions Reese intercepts pass and rushes to center along 20 yards and taps ball and Lions Gomez blasts ball up middle and over net from 22 yards.
32 min...Lions Reese dekes defender but has second player check him off ball at 25 yards before he can shoot.
33 min...Lions Mason shoots ball from 30 yards through crowd of players up middle is wide left.
34 min...Lions Reese hits left post from 5 yards on left as ball crosses to him on left.
35 min...Lions Reese misses shot from 7 yards into open net as ball rolls under his boot.
36 min...WBS Levidini can't control short freekick pass forward on right and ball rolls over end line.
39 min...Lions Gomez ball pushed forward to Lions Mason for 2 on 1 but Mason's cross from 20 yards on left deflects off defender and rolls to goalie.
40 min...Lions Misiari injured at Lions 35 yard line.
41 min...Lions player throw-in from left has ball deflect off Lions forward over end line on left.
44 min...Lions Vlicinic cross from near left corner flag has diving defender head ball away.
45 min...Lions Reese gets short pass and blasts 16 yard shot from right that flying goalie bats down and sliding Lions Vlicnic misses.
46 min...Lions Jankovic rolls 40 yarder through crowd of players wide right of net.
46 min...half ends 7:18pm.
2nd Half:...starts 7:25pm.
47 min...Lions Misiari cross from left has Lions Jankovic charge up and boot ball over net from 12 yards.
49 min...Lions Patton pushes pass up left to Lions Vlicinic who crosses over box and Lions Reese on right crosses ball behind net.
50 min...Lions Gomez cuts shot and as he slips rolls 18 yarder to goalie who dives down for save.
51 min...Lions Doski long cross from right has two Lions players leap for header on left but deflect ball wide left for goalkick.
53 min...Lions sub...Smith replaces Reese.
54 min...Lions Vlicinic 18 yard shot from left is into outside webbing of net.
55 min...Lions Smither beats goalie to ball and deflects ball off him at 10 yards on right to win cornerkick.
56 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from right is over players in box.
56 min...WBS Koliqi lofts 45 yard shot from right that's caught by goalie.
57 min...Lions Patton races up middle to get to through ball and blasts over net from 15 yards.
59 min...Lions Smith rushes on left and 25 yard blast has flying ogalie push ball wide left into outside webbing of net.
60 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from left is caught by goalie in crowd of players.
62 min...Lions Milos Vlicinic charges to through ball on left and trips over diving goalie Anthony Santilli at 16 yards on left as ball rolls wide left of net. Referee Justin Tasev signals for a Penalty kick.
63 min...Lions Jamaal Smith GOAL...Smith’s Penalty kick is low to left corner of net too far for diving goalie.
67 min...Lions Vlicinic run cuts into WBS box but he trips up before he can get away 10 yard shot.
68 min...Lions Vlicinic crosses behind net from left end line as he's being ridden out by defender.
70 min...Lions Vlicinic cornerkick from right has Lions Jankovic pops up header wide left of goal and Lions Smith can't connect on header as defender knocks him.
73 min...Lions Vlicinic rush on left and cross over box has Lions Rini try for shot.
74 min...Lions Jamaal Smith GOAL...Smith gets pass at 15 yards on left and bends blast inside right corner of net beyond flying goalie.
75 min...Lions sub...Krmeta replaces Patton.
75 min...Lions Vlicinic blasts 22 yard shot from left is well over net.
76 min...Lions Vlicinic 60 yard cross from left is caught by goalie.
77 min...Lions sub...Ncube replaces Rini.
78 min...Lions Gomez 25 yard freekick from far left has Lions forward stop ball at 6 yards but he's checked off ball.
79 min...Lions sub...Ricketts replaces Doski.
80 min...Lions Vlicinic rush on left and cuts towards goal; his 18 yard shot has flying goalie stop on right post and Lions Smith blast 5 yard rebound off right post.
80 min...Krmeta close in kick is shot wide.
81 min...Lions sub...Hurlock replaces Mason.
82 min...Lions Darryl Gomez GOAL...Lions Milos Vlicinic crosses from left that has Gomez blast partially cleared ball from 12 yards into center of net.
83 min...Border Stars RED card...Milan Marsic as the last defender back earns a direct ejection for pulling down charging Milos Vlicinic just before he runs into the WBS box.
84 min...Lions Ncube 20 yard freekick from lefft is caught by goalie.
85 min...Lions sub...Gooden replaces Vlicinic.
86 min...WBS player's 35 yard freekick from left is knocked away from edge of box.
90 min...game ends 8:10pm.
Final Score:……….Canadian Lions…….3…………Windsor Border Stars……….0………
Attendance was about 40 on this warm evening.
The game didn’t start until 6:32pm as they were waiting for the visiting team to show up. I was panicking and ready to drive off to the 7:00pm game across town. The Border Stars got here and skipped they introductions, national anthems and shortened the intermission and ended at 8:10pm. Border Stars brought only eleven players and with no substitutes tired in the second half. About half of the players I’d only seen once or never before. Missed most of all were forwards Aaron Byrd, Woreth Sampson, and Radek Papiez and owner/midfielder Jeff Hodgson. The last time they came to Toronto I saw them play at North York and they lost then also with only eleven players.
I only counted one 25 yard and one 45 yard shot by Border Stars the whole game. Matthew Willis earned the shutout for this light workout with a few rushes to clear or grab through balls.
Lions were missing their leading scorer Evan Milward who was called up by the MLS Toronto FC to play in their reserves game this weekend in Washington DC. This is the third MLS Reserves game in a row for him. If he had have been here today he may have been able to break open faster if he’d been there because speed is his extra edge. Ryan Reese and Milos Vlicinic tried to pick up the slack by taking most of the corners and free kicks and each playing opposite wings trying to fire crosses into the box. This practice for the first 45 minutes of the game paid off for Vlicinic in the second half. Much of the game seemed like a hockey power play similar to Friday’s Toronto Croatia vs. London City.
Lions could take advantage of the league’s seven substitutes rule by bringing in fresh legs in the second half. Jamlani Smith was brought in at 53 minutes and made an impact within two minutes and later scored their first two goals. His brother Jamaal came to fame last year by being the only play chosen from among over 1000 players that tried out for MLS Toronto FC positions during the Christmas weekend. He played tonight like he wants another chance with them.
Tonight’s game clinches a playoff spot for the Lions as a Wildcard team. They will be seeded seventh because there are three great teams ahead of them in the International Division and three teams from the National Division will be seeded ahead of them. Without that system they’d be sixth.
Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
Lions conference before kickoff. There were no player introductions tonight.
Players wait for freekick.
Milan Marsic takes this throw-in for the Border Stars.
Jelani Smith scores on this penalty kick.
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